Hazel Aden
Hazel Ali Hashi Aden is a young Muslim woman, and a graduate of the Degrassi Community School Class of 2006. It is assumed that she attended university outside of Toronto. She was best friends with Paige Michalchuk and good friends with Terri MacGregor, Ashley Kerwin, Spinner Mason and Marco Del Rossi. She was portayed by Andrea Lewis. Character History Background Hazel was born in Somalia. During the civil war in the early 1990s, she and her mother fled the country. Her father, who was a soldier in the war, came shortly afterwards. The three of them live together in Toronto. Season 1 Hazel first appears in the episode, Rumours and Reputations as Paige's best friend and fellow popular fashionista with a sharp tongue. Hazel helps spread the rumour that Liberty is having an inappropriate affair with Mr. Armstrong. In [[Wannabe|'Wannabe']], Hazel (along with Paige) try to take advantage of Manny when she tries out for the Spirit Squad. Even though Manny was very athletic, Hazel and Paige took advantage of her by making Manny join their posse. Hazel and Paige wanted Manny to hang with them after school and ditch Emma. Manny decides to go with them, but after Paige makes Manny do something wrong, she stops hanging with them. Hazel still thinks Manny is good and should make the Spirit Squad at Degrassi. In [[Jagged Little Pill|'Jagged Little Pill']], Hazel attends Ashley's Sleepover Party with Paige and Terri. When Ashley gets high off the ecstasy and starts behaving in a horrible manner, Hazel (along with everyone else) is very disappointed in her. She eventually leaves after Ashley and Jimmy break up, thinking that it was pretty much a waste of time. Season 2 In Karma Chameleon, Hazel (along with an angry Paige) excluded Ashley from their clique after the events that occurred at Ashley's party during the previous year. When they re-accepted her, she stuffed up again and they made Terri choose between them and Ashley. Terri chose Hazel and Paige, much to Ashley's devastation. In [[Shout (1)|'Shout (1)']], Hazel is the first to know about Paige's rape. Being a concerned friend, she tries to convince her to go to the police, but Paige was too scared and confused to go to the police. Paige wasn't ready to press charges against her assailant until he returned to the school for a basketball game and was seen flirting with Manny. When Paige realizes that Manny could be in danger, she realizes she can't keep quiet any longer. Hazel fully supported Paige through this and helped her cope with her rape. In Mirror in the Bathroom, Hazel supported Terri when she was being made fun of after becoming a plus-sized model. She and Paige defended her when a boy named, Mohammed called her baluga. She also complimented Terri when she stood up to Mohammed and told him off. In [[Don't Believe the Hype|'Don't Believe the Hype']], Hazel pretended to be Jamaican to hide her Muslim heritage during an 'International Day' school event. She went so far as to bully Fareeza, another Muslim girl, to hide her secret. Hazel was devastated when students destroyed Fareeza's presentation on Iraq with spray paint, because it brought back painful memories of being harassed at her old school after 9/11 based on her culture. After making peace with Fareeza and revealing previous abuse, Hazel revealed in a class presentation that she was born in Mogadishu, Somalia to Muslim parents who immigrated to Canada and explained about her faith. In [[Relax|'Relax']], Hazel and Paige team up to play a prank on Terri when her mystical oracles read that Paige's lifeline is short and she is going to die. In [[Take My Breath Away|'Take My Breath Away']], Hazel developed a crush on Marco, so naturally, he thought that she was his secret admirer, when his admirer was actually Ellie. When Marco discovers the truth, he tells Ellie that Hazel is not his type and they begin a relationship. In the season finale, Hazel goes with to the Hawaii-themed dance as Jimmy's date. The two of them briefly competed with their respective best friends, Paige and Spinner, for Luau King and Queen. However, Craig and Ashley ended up winning, leaving the four of them stunned. Season 3 Hazel becomes credited as a regular in season 3. When Paige arranges a girl's night, Hazel confronts Terri about the unusual marks on wrists and arms. Terri pretends to act as if has no idea what she is talking about and she even accuses her of being jealous, trying to hide the fact that her boyfriend Rick really was abusing her. Hazel becomes upset as well as Terri, but they reunite as best friends. When Paige gets a hold of the family van, they go for a road trip, and Terri suggested that Rick should go. But when they arrive, Rick and Paige start to get into an argument so Rick leaves off in the woods, Terri runs after him, trying to keep him calm, but Rick is gets angry at her for taking Paige's side and pushes Terri into a loose piece of a cinder block, and put her in a coma. When Marco and Ellie "break up", Spinner organises a double date for himself, Paige, Marco and Hazel. Hazel and Marco are getting along fine until Ellie enters The Dot. Marco runs out and is confronted by Spinner. Marco reveals that he is gay, and while Hazel remains his friend, Spinner doesn't. In a Breakfast Club-esque episode of Degrassi, Hazel receives Saturday detention for surfing porn during school hours. Hazel ends up bonding with the other students in detention: Jimmy, Sean, Toby and Ellie. During detention, Jimmy dares Hazel to kiss Toby. She does so and Toby is overjoyed. When Mr. Raditch catches them, they are all put in different rooms. Bored with nothing to do, they take an adventure through the school and end up on the roof. Jimmy then kisses Hazel because she kissed Toby and they begin going out. Just as everyone is about to have a group photo back in the classroom, Ellie's deception is revealed. The following day, Hazel is friendly to Toby and Sean, and is seen with Jimmy, but everyone remains cold with Ellie, until Sean forgives her. At the end-of-the-year Bollywood theme dance, Jimmy tries to make things perfect for Hazel. He orders a limo for her, Paige, Spinner and himself to ride to the dance in and makes reservations for them at an expensive restaurant. However, things do not go as planned, when their limo turns out to have a disgusting interior with lot of garbage on the floor and seats. Later, their limo driver is arrested for parking in a no stopping zone and they arrive to the formal in a police car, only to find everyone standing outside because of a fire that had started inside the school. Hazel notices Jimmy is upset about their failed perfect night, and kisses him, saying she didn't care if things were perfect or not. After dancing together, the year ends happily for them. Season 4 When Rick Murray returns to the school, Hazel and her group of friends are not happy about it and do their best to make his life a living hell. Emma and Paige start up Students Against Violence and many others try to get him expelled by talking to Mr. Raditch. When Emma defends Rick, she loses her new friends. When Rick suffers at the hands of a henius prank, he goes on a shooting spree. He shoots Jimmy in the back and the school goes into lockdown. Rick is killed in a scuffle with Sean. When Hazel learns about Jimmy, she breaks down and is quite distraught. Hazel is extremely supportive of Jimmy during his recovery and is present at his welcome back shindig. Hazel is very angry at Spinner's actions (which indirectly caused Jimmy's paralysis) and he is disowned by his friends. She and Paige do yoga where Paige first finds interest in Mr. Oleander. They even go to a club to meet him. Then when she finds out Manny knew about their relationship before her, Paige and her argue and almost revealed their relationship to everyone. She then later apologizes for what she did and they become friends again. Hazel also shows Paige an incriminating picture of Spinner and Manny, which contributes to their break up. Later in the year, a rivalry erupts between Manny and Paige. When Manny conspires with other Spirit Squad members to break Paige's leg, the latter gets back at her by ripping her dress. Paige began complaining about Manny, her sore leg and the formal, when Hazel stands up to her as she wanted the night to be special for Jimmy. Hazel also prompted Paige to apologize to Manny by giving her some home truths. Season 5 Hazel continues to support Jimmy when he has trouble with Derek, but feels him drifting away from her. Hazel begins to think that Jimmy is back to his old self and is very happy for him when he decides to go to basketball tryouts. However, Ellie has discovered his talent for drawing and takes him to an art exhibit. When this makes Jimmy miss out on tryouts, Hazel is unsettled. When she is with him in the nurse's office (after Jimmy hurt his hand) Jimmy tries to kiss Hazel, but she backs away. She says that she is worried and mad about the whole situation and leaves. Jimmy ends up leaving tryouts. He later tells Hazel that he's changed and that he's not the same Jimmy but she disagrees. When Jimmy says that "it's complicated" and that he can't explain, Hazel asks him to try and he agrees. Later, Jimmy promises Hazel that he will paint a picture of her in the wall mural, and she begins to help with the painting of it. They are having a lot of fun with the mural, but Hazel is hurt when Jimmy begins to choose art and Ellie over her and basketball. Jimmy paints Ellie's face on the mural instead of Hazel's and she dumps him because of this she felt that he was falling for Ellie more than her. Alex causes a lot of friction between Paige and Hazel. Hazel is perplexed as to why Paige is Alex's friend and this causes a disagreement. When Jay tells Hazel that he saw the two kissing, Hazel asks Paige during Spirit Squad practice if she turned gay and didn't tell her. Caught off-guard, Paige said that she got caught up in the moment and that Alex meant nothing to her. However, this was only a lie and Paige soon began dating Alex. Paige tries to get the two to get along, as they had never liked each other and were very important to her. In an attempt to make Paige happy, Hazel and Alex try bonding by going shopping with Paige. However, when Hazel made a comment about Alex being unable to pay for some of the clothes, a fight erupted. Paige stopped talking to the both of them, which got the two bonding. A playful and humorous cappunico fight ensured and they all laughed about it in mall security. Hazel and Alex became friends. The end of the year arrives, Hazel achieves all her credits and later graduates. She is seen in the season 5 finale and is friendly with Ellie, Paige, Marco and Alex. Hazel went on to attend a university outside of Toronto. Mentions Season 6 Hazel is mentioned one last time in the episode, Can't Hardly Wait, when Ashley is flipping through Jimmy's art sketchbook and finds a picture of her. Even though she gets mentioned, nothing is said about where Hazel went after graduating from Degrassi. After this, she is not mentioned or seen, so it is unknown what she is doing or where she currently stands in her life. Appearances Trivia *Hazel is one of two Spirit Squad members to never be captain. The second was Anya MacPherson. However, she was co-captain alongside Paige Michalchuk. *Jimmy and Hazel had the longest lasting teenage relationship in Degrassi history, lasting nearly two years. *Hazel and Jimmy never had sex. Because he was her only on-screen boyfriend, it is highly likely that Hazel graduated from Degrassi with her virginity intact. *Although she dated Jimmy, Hazel's first onscreen kiss was with Toby Isaacs. *Hazel was the first person to know that Rick Murray was abusing Terri MacGregor. **Ironically, Hazel convinced Terri to date Rick. *Hazel was also the first person to know that Paige had been raped. *Hazel was the third person to know that Paige was seeing Matt Oleander. **Marco was the first person. **Manny was the second person. *She is left-handed. *She is the first Muslim character. The second, Fareeza, is only seen in Don't Believe the Hype. In this episode, Hazel lies to her classmates and teachers about being Jamaican via her mother. Andrea Lewis's real-life mother is Jamaican. *She is the first character to be ashamed of her ethnic heritage. *She was the only Class of 2006 graduate to make their final appearance in High Fidelity (2). *She was the first character to have the main plot in an episode of a season she did not star in. The second was Ashley Kerwin and The third was Anya MacPherson. *Although they were not close friends, she attended Craig Manning's surprise 17th birthday party at the Dot in Venus (1). *Spinner considered her to be one of the coolest girls at Degrassi. *She is one of several students who were born outside of Toronto: **She was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. **Becky and Luke Baker are from somewhere in Florida. **Lucy Fernandez is from New York, NY. **Yick Yu is from Vietnam. **Mike Dallas is from Guelph, ON. **Jenna Middleton was born in Calgary, AB. **Campbell Saunders is from Kapuskasing, ON. **Fiona and Declan Coyne were born in Tokyo, Japan to American expatriates. **Becky and Luke Baker are from somewhere in Florida. **Derek Wheeler was most likely born near Port Hope, ON. **Patrick is from Dublin, Ireland. **Manny Santos was born in Manila, the Philippines. **Rasha Zuabi and Saad and Abra Al'Maliki are from Syria. *She is the second main character that is a refugee. The other four are Yick Yu, Rasha Zuabi, Saad Al'Maliki, and Abra Al'Maliki. *She is one of five characters to wear a hijab. The others being Fareeza, Goldi Nahir, Rasha Zuabi, and Abra Al'Maliki. Quotes *"Get this! Liberty and Armstrong were caught kissing... in his car!" (first line) - [[Rumours and Reputations|'Rumours and Reputations']] *(To Paige but I was getting used to you being a lesbian.'(final line) - High Fidelity (2) *"Paige, did you become gay overnight and not tell me?" - The Lexicon of Love (2) *(To Paige and Dylan Michalchuk) "I'm freezing! Who's gay?" Paige: "Dylan thinks Marco is gay, when he's been dating Ellie like, forever!" Dylan: "Oh, like I've never dated any girls before I came out! What's your take on this, Hazel?" Hazel: "Well, from someone who had the most pathetic crush on him last year, join the line, him and Ellie are soulmates!" - Pride (1) *Sean: "Did Paige pull your puppet strings? Make you dance?" Hazel: "Paige can't make me do anything." - Take On Me *Alex: "How long have you wanted to kiss Paige?" Hazel: "That's your thing not mine." - Our Lips Are Sealed (2) *"Paige used to be straight until you came along and turned her gay." - Our Lips Are Sealed (2) *"Sorry, Mr. Oleander, I thought you only had eyes for Paige." - Modern Love *"If you wanna know how to freeze people out, phone up Ashley Kerwin." - Our Lips Are Sealed (2) *"You made out with Spinner? I was just getting used to you being a lesbian." - High Fidelity (2) *"50 bucks to anyone that gives me a tampon right now!" - Accidents Will Happen (1) *"I can't believe no one noticed! I just did a front walk-over that belongs in a horror movie." - Accidents Will Happen (1) *"But can you tell me why you had to be more horrible back? Why you always have to be more horrible?!" - West End Girls *"That’s because you did get her boyfriend fired from teaching and pulled her hair." - West End Girls *"I'm happy for you. Welcome back, Jimmy Brooks." - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For *"I shouldn't have dived over the counter for that whipped cream canister." - Our Lips Are Sealed (2) *"Honestly it's the only thing keeping me sane since you know." - Neutron Dance *"Why do you even hang out with her anyway?" - The Lexicon of Love (1) *"Please, as if we were going to bring her. Our limo's a skank-free zone." - The Lexicon of Love (1) *"Because Hazel goes so perfectly with Jimmy." - Redemption Song *"You've got to be kidding me." - Redemption Song *"I'm talking about Alex. What is she doing here, is she like your girlfriend now?" - The Lexicon of Love (2) Relationships * Jimmy Brooks ** Start Up: Take On Me (316) ** Broke Up: Redemption Song (510) *** Reason: Hazel thought Jimmy had feelings for Ellie after seeing a character in his mural that looked like Ellie. Interaction Category:Degrassi: The Next Generation Category:Degrassi: TNG characters Category:Season 1 Category:Season 2 Category:Season 3 Category:Season 4 Category:Season 5 Category:Musician Category:Alumni Category:Degrassi: TNG teens Category:Female Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Recurring Characters Category:Spirit Squad Category:Athlete